>>2748451Star Ocean 2 is what convinced me that voice acting was the future of video games.
When I heard the battle cries I became excited because I saw that my characters were in it to win. Even in the heat of combat itself they could not control their emotions and yelled out their techniques with fierce intensity. Sadly, they would sometimes fall in battle and would give a desperate yell or a haunting scream as they fainted.
But I would persevere. I had to. I became more and more emotionally attached with each spoken word of theirs.
I would win the skirmishes, never doubting my trust in Claude or Rena. I would even place my faith in Dias because I could hear in his voice his true feelings for Rena and the care he had for the world. I felt like I was right there fighting for the future with them.
After the trauma of battle, the relief and satisfaction that they felt was palpable. There were obviously limits to the expressions that they could show with the frankly cheap-looking sprites, but their speech filled in the blanks with great fervor. It is clear to me that war is truly hell, for even in their celebratory comments I could sense the pain they felt. War has made these kids into adults, and I was there to see it happen.
I'm thankful for the experience, and I am thankful that other studios took notice and we eventually were gifted with Final Fantasy X's voiced dialogue.
But that's a story for another day.
